2016: Valgeir Sigurðsson | Susan Schmidt Horning | Thomas Bärtschi

Valgeir Sigurðsson is an Icelandic composer and record producer. As the editorial and curatorial edge of the Bedroom Community label he founded in Reykjavík in 2006, his work with the likes of Nico Muhly, Ben Frost, Paul Corley, Sam Amidon and Daníel Bjarnason features a constantly evolving appreciation of the diversity of music in the world. Three acclaimed solo works, Ekvílibríum (2007) Draumalandið (2010) and Architecture of Loss (2013) will be followed in 2017 by the intensely reflective Dissonance.Elsewhere, with an enterprising understanding of where forward looking, genre liquefying modern music is moving, his collaborations have included Björk, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Feist, Damon Albarn, CocoRosie, Sigur Rós, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Brian Eno, Tim Hecker, Anohni, Oneohtrix Point Never and Alarm Will Sound.As adept at composing orchestral pieces, chamber works and modern opera as working in electronic and studio settings and generating evocative soundtracks for film and documentary, his work for theatre, dance and installations demonstrates how Sigurðsson thinks like a painter and sculptor as much as sound artist and musician.

Susan Schmidt Horning

Susan Schmidt Horning is Associate Professor of History at St. John’s University in Queens, New York. Her first book, Chasing Sound: Technology, Culture, and the Art of Studio Recording from Edison to the LP (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013; 2015), traces the interplay between technology and creativity in recording studios during the first century of sound recording. Her work has appeared in the journals ICON and Social Studies of Science, and in Music and Technology in the Twentieth Century (Johns Hopkins, 2002), and The Electric Guitar: A History of an American Icon (Johns Hopkins, 2004). Her interest in the history of music technology is the natural outgrowth of her earlier life as a rock musician. From her teenage all-girl rock band, The Poor Girls to the 1970s power-trio Chi-Pig, Schmidt Horning played steadily in northeast Ohio and New York during the heady days of 1960s and ‘70s rock and punk. Her next project is a study of all-girl rock bands in the 1960s.

Thomas Bärtschi

Thomas Bärtschiis audio/VR evangelist and product specialist at Audiokinetic, developers of the audio middleware solution Wwise – highly motivated for setting new standards in audio production for VR/AR, games and interactive media. He is also active within the Danish Sound Innovation Network, helping to bring new opportunities to the community through an extensive network, passion and interest in the mixed reality ecosystem. In 2015 he co-founded EUVR, a platform for VR enthusiasts and developers within Europe, connecting thousands of VR/AR enthusiasts. Prior to working at Audiokinetic, he worked as audio director, composer and tools architect at Io-Interactive and at Crytek – as part of the initial start-up team.

Suzanne Ciani is a California-based, five-time Grammy Award nominated composer, electronic music pioneer, and neo-classical recording artist whose work has received a Golden Globe Award, an Independent Music Award, and been featured in countless commercials, video games, and feature films. Over the course of her 30+ year career, she's released and produced seventeen albums, including Seven Waves, The Velocity of Love, Turning, the Grammy Award nominated Neverlandand most recently, the electronic retrospective, Lixiviation. She's been recognized as Keyboard Magazine's "New Age Keyboardist of the Year," provided the voice and sounds for Bally's groundbreaking Xenon pinball machine, played concerts all over the globe, and carved out a niche as one of the most creatively successful female composers in the world.

Suzanne launched her early recording career by working in TV and film scoring. In the eighties and early nineties, Ciani’s New York-based commercial production company, Ciani-Musica, Inc., was the leader in the field of sound design and TV spot scoring, creating award-winning music for a host of high profile Fortune 500 clients, including Coca-Cola, Merrill Lynch, AT&T, and General Electric. Additionally, Ciani has the recognition of being the first woman hired to score a major Hollywood feature, scoring the Lily Tomlin feature The Incredible Shrinking Woman; the award-winning feature documentary, Mother Teresa; the feature documentary, Mother Teresa: The Legacy; as well as scoring for the TV daytime serial One Life to Live.

A Life in Waves, a feature-length documentary film about Ciani’s life and work by filmmakers Brett Whitcomb and Bradford Thomason, is a biographical look at Suzanne’s dynamic and colorful career, from her earliest days learning the piano, to her multi-million dollar advertising ventures, to her innovations in the world of New Age music, to her recent connection with Finders Keepers records and re-acquaintance with her beloved Buchla synthesizer. More than this, the film journey’s into Suzanne's mind, offering a feminine glimpse into the world of composition, electronic music, and advertising. Utilizing a wealth of archival footage and Suzanne’s endless catalog of music, Whitcomb and Bradford create a nostalgic, visually compelling look at one woman's journey, and the trials she has overcome to succeed in a traditionally male-dominated art form.

Maureen Droney, Managing Director, The Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing, began her career as an assistant engineer at the legendary Automatt Studios in San Francisco. She went on to engineer for George Benson, Whitney Houston, John Hiatt, Tower of Power, and Santana, among many others, including Santana’s GRAMMY-winning album Blues For Salvador. She holds a degreein Broadcast Communication Arts from California State University, San Francisco, and has taught seminars in the theory and practice of audio engineering for numerous companies including ABC Television and Radio CBS Television, and Deluxe Film Labs Post Production. Prior to joining The Recording Academy, Droney was director of the Kiva Family of Studios, which included the House of Blues Studios in Los Angeles and Memphis and East Iris Studios in Nashville. She was also the Los Angeles Editor of Mix magazine for more than 10 years and is the author of Mix Masters, a popular recording textbook published by Berklee Press. A regular contributor to numerous audio and performing arts publications, she recently co-authored the Hal Leonard publication The Pensado Papers which documents the rise of the web-series phenomenon Pensado’s Place.

Mr. Kenneth Gamble is widely known for having written, produced, recorded, and published more than 3,000 songs performed by artists such as The Jackson Five, Teddy Pendergrass, Jerry Butler, The O’Jays, Spinners, Delfonics, Jones Girls, Billy Paul, Lou Rawls, Phyllis Hyman, Dionne Warrick, and many others (nearly 60 artists in total represented the Philly label). A great deal of music he produced carried a social theme and what was described as a “message in the music.” In 1974 and 1989, he received Grammy Awards for writing “Me & Mrs. Jones” and “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” respectively. He founded several record companies, including Philadelphia International Records, of which he remains CEO and chairman of the board.

The Gamble and Huff writing duo has received every major musical award in the U.S. and abroad including being inducted into the National Academy of Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1995; the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame in 2001; the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008; and the Dance and Music Hall of Fame in 2005. He has also received the prestigious UK Ivor Novello Award in 2006 and Grammy’s Lifetime Achievement Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2009 the duo was named BMI Icons at the 57th Annual BMI Pop Awards.

The Gamble and Huff catalog has secured: 80 #1 Hits; 200+ Top #100 Hits; 175 Gold/Platinum Albums; #1 R&B Publisher Worldwide; #8 Pop Publisher Worldwide; and one of Gamble and Huff’s records is played every 13 minutes worldwide. In addition, Mr. Gamble was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree in Public Service from Cheyney University in 2005 and an Honorary Doctorate degree of Music from Berklee College of Music in 2010.

Tony Maserati is an American record producer and audio engineer who has worked with many mainstream artists including Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Jason Mraz, James Brown, Mariah Carey, Notorious BIG, Black Eyed Peas, Destiny's Child, R. Kelly, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Puff Daddy, and Tupac Shakur. His work encompasses worldwide sales in excess of 100 million units. He won a Grammy Award for his work on Beyoncé Knowles' No. 1 single, "Crazy In Love" and a Latin Grammy Award for Sérgio Mendes's Timeless (2006). He has seven additional Grammy nominations, including a 2013 Record of the Year nomination for Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" and a nomination for Best Engineered Album (Non Classical) for Jason Mraz's "Love Is A Four Letter Word" in 2012. He is currently a nominee for 2014 Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards for his work on Beyonce's "Beyonce."

Maserati attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts for production and engineering. He relocated to New York City during the early days of the record making business in New York City, and was trained by the technical and engineering staff of legendary Sigma Sound Studios as well as the steady stream of R&B, Dance and Rock luminaries who booked the rooms there.

According to Sound on Sound, Maserati helped to define the sound of New York hip-hop and R&B through his mixes: a "huge low end and a smooth, velvety high", and an “outhouse on the bottom, penthouse on the top”, according to Mix magazine.

Maserati uses both analog and digital technology, and has worked with manufacturers to test, create, distribute and promote quality audio solutions for the market. In a partnership between Maserati and Waves Audio Ltd., digital plug-in versions of Maserati's favorite analog chains were created and released as the first in a line of Waves Signature Series plugins - The Tony Maserati Collection. Maserati has been a spokesperson for other brands including Avid, Chandler Limited, SoundToys, RetroInstruments, Crane Song, Softube and Universal Audio.

In 2011, Maserati and Stefan Skarbek co-founded Mirrorball Entertainment, a music publisher, production team and recording company.

Trevor Pinch is the Goldwin Smith Professor of Science and Technology Studies and Professor of Sociology at Cornell University. He holds degrees in physics and sociology. He has authored many books and numerous articles on aspects of the sociology of science, the sociology of technology, the sociology of economics, and sound studies. His books include Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer. He is co editor of the Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies. He is also a performing musician with the Electric Golem and The Atomic forces. He has an honorary degree from Maastricht University.

Susan Rogers holds a doctorate in Cognitive Psychology. Her research focuses on auditory memory and the influence of musical training on auditory development. For two decades prior to her science career, Susan was one of the world’s few women working as a record producer, engineer, mixer, and audio electronics technician. Career highlights include 5 years (1983-1988) as staff engineer for Prince; producing diverse artists such as Barenaked Ladies, David Byrne, Geggy Tah, Robben Ford, Jeff Black, and Rusted Root; mixing for an equally eclectic list including Tricky, Michael Penn, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and Tevin Campbell; and engineering for a host more. She is an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music in the departments of Music Production & Engineering and Liberal Arts, and is the director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory. In 2012 she was awarded the Distinguished Faculty Award, Professional Writing and Music Technology Division.

After eight years as a Lab Tech in the Research department at the Philco Corporation in 1960 Joe started working nights at AMS, a small studio in South Philadelphia. In 1962 Joe left Philco and AMS to take a full time engineer position at Cameo Parkway Records. During his years there he recorded artists that included Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydel, The Dovels, The Orlons, Dee Dee Sharp and The Tymes. Eventually Cameo was sold, with the change Joe decided to make his move and in 1968 he established Sigma Sound Studios.

Under Tarsia's leadership, Sigma brought cutting edge innovation to the sound recording business. Sigma was one of the first studios on the East Coast to offer 24-track recording and multi-track noise reduction (Dolby). It was the first studioanywhere to successfully employ console automation. In cooperation with Allison Research, Sigma developed the first endless throw automation fader. Sigma was instrumental in the design of the MCI 600 series recording console and later, the monitor features of Solid State Logic’s 6000 series recording console. Many of the design innovations developed by Sigma were adopted by pro audio manufacturers and are still in use today.

No professional achievement is more meaningful to Joe Tarsia than his hand in creating the "Philadelphia Sound". From the mid 60's to the early 80's the unique sound that came to life in Sigma's studios dominated the world's airways. The success of Sigma regulars, Gamble & Huff, Tom Bell, Tom Moulton, Bobby Martin and Baker, Harris & Young attracted a stream of top artists and producers from around the world, coming to capture the "Sigma magic".

In 1977 Sigma expanded to the Big Apple opening Sigma Sound Studios of New York. After 35 years Joe sold it all in 2003. Joe was a founding member and first president of The Society of Professional Recording Studios (SPARS) and a founding members and a past Chairman of the Board of The Philadelphia Music Alliance (PMA).

2014: Susan Rogers (Industry Keynote)

Susan Rogers holds a doctorate in Cognitive Psychology. Her research focuses on auditory memory and the influence of musical training on auditory development. For two decades prior to her science career, Susan was one of the world’s few women working as a record producer, engineer, mixer, and audio electronics technician. Career highlights include 5 years (1983-1988) as staff engineer for Prince; producing diverse artists such as Barenaked Ladies, David Byrne, Geggy Tah, Robben Ford, Jeff Black, and Rusted Root; mixing for an equally eclectic list including Tricky, Michael Penn, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and Tevin Campbell; and engineering for a host more. She is an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music in the departments of Music Production & Engineering and Liberal Arts, and is the director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory. In 2012 she was awarded the Distinguished Faculty Award, Professional Writing and Music Technology Division.

Sophie Stévance (Academic Keynote)

Sophie Stévance isProfessor in musicology at the Faculty of Music, University of Laval, and is head of the Groupe de recherche-création en musique. Her field of study is research-creation in music and she has done research into modernization of Inuit throat-singing (with Tanya Tagaq) and creative processes in music production and new technologies. She is the author of several books, including the recent publications Quand la musique prend corps, with M. Desroches and S. Lacasse (2014), Les Enjeux de la recherche-création en musique: institution, définition, formation, with S. Lacasse (2013) and Musique actuelle (2011) and received awards from The Académie Charles-Cros in 2006 and 2010.

Jan Erik Kongshaug (Plenary)

Jan Erik Kongshaug is one of the world’s most renowned studio engineers and the owner of Rainbow studio in Oslo. He has recorded more than 700 albums for the label ECM in cooperation with producer Manfred Eicher and has worked with, among others, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Jan Garbarek, Ornette Coleman and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

2013: André Perry of Le Studio

André Perry’s career path journeyed from Jazz and studio musician and author/composer, to recording engineer, record producer and studio designer/owner. He was also marketing consultant to retail chains. The scope of his music productions spanned from a diversity of projects, comprising of an international of artists as well as film sound tracks and ballet compositions. Perry produced ‘The Music of the Ceremonies of the 1976 Olympic Games’, Wilson Pickett’s last album ‘I Want You’, and John Lennon’s ‘Give Peace A Chance’ which stands out as the most enduring. In 1974, Perry conceived and designed his third and most famous recording facility, LE STUDIO (Morin Heights) which he operated with his life and business partner Yaël Brandeis until 1989. Tucked away from the established music centers, Le Studio Morin Heights, the first sophisticated ‘environmental recording studio’, was built using a revolutionary concept, blending creativity with innovative technology. It quickly became renowned for its refinement and for the nurturing of its clientele – the exclusive international club of the era’s finest musicians and artists which includes ASIA, Bryan Adams, the Bee Gees, David Bowie, Cat Stevens, Chicago, Julien Clerc, Roberta Flack, Corey Hart, Ian Hunter, Catherine Lara, Nazareth, The Police, Keith Richards, Rush, Sting, amongs many others. The duration of the recording session sometimes lasted several months and the groups and the studio staff became united in their efforts to create“The 5 minutes of Magic”. André Perry is presently President and founding partner of Fidelio Technologies Inc. The company has developed 2xHD, a proprietary system for the transformation of analogue and digital music masters into a high resolution DXD and DSD formats for downloading on HD audio sites around the world. Fidelio Technologies also acts as a download licensee for various labels.